materialism - MBTI theory Flashcards
mind brain type identity theory
the mind is the brain, so each mental state/process is literally one and the same thing as a state or process within the brain. facts about the brain are reducible to physical facts, so pain, belief, etc are only neurological states. MBTI theory is committed to the idea that research can identify which thought, feeling, or desire is in the brain. there are two different languages to describe the same thing.
numerical identity
if objects A and B are numerically identical, it follows that they are one in the same, so they must share all the same properties. twins cannot be numerically identical despite sharing all of the same qualities as they cannot be in the same physical space at the same time (cannot share that spatial quality). the mind and the brain are numerically the same but qualitatively different.
qualitative identity
if objects A and B are qualitatively identical, they are not necessarily one in the same, but they have a chance to be, they share some properties. the mind and the brain are numerically the same but qualitatively different.
J.C.C. Smart’s quote
“all talk of the mind is talk of the brain”
ontological reduction
Patricia Churchland
ontological reduction takes two different linguistic ideas and reduces them to one, beings of one kind are really the same as entities of another kind. they are numerically identical, sharing the same spatial and time qualities, our different concepts of the objects depends on the context they are put in. for example, happiness can be colloquially explained as an emotion, but also as the release of oxytocin in the brain. (scientific vs. colloquial language, though they are still numerically identical.) linguistically, they are two different things, people do not say “my brain is producing oxytocin” to say they are happy, but physically they are the same thing.
analytical reduction
analytical reduction is a linguistic reduction, one term can be linguistically reduced to the language of another term without losing its meaning. for example when talking about ourselves, talk of the inner is is reduced to talk of the outer without any meaning being lost. it is physicalist, talking about language, behaviour, tone etc.
difference between analytical and ontological reduction
the difference between the two is what is being reduced, analytical reduction is a linguistic reduction, ontological reduction takes the language and reduces it into a process of the brain.
